Horizon - What is Reality?

Ancient Greek philosophers like Parmenides, Zeno and Plato stumbled upon a radical discovery: the distinction between appearance and reality. If we are to ask the question of what reality is (and how we can know this), our best bet at finding some sort of answer would require that we delve deeply into science, mathematics and philosophy.The following documentary explores some of the questions that are currently at the border between scientific inquiry...

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Weiner Gives "Half-Time Report" in Debate over Healthcare Repeal

Yes, I may be on a bit of a ranting spree, but I'd rather end the week on a positive note instead of one that just makes me more upset than I already am. Hopefully you feel the same way.So, what we have now is Congressman Anthony Weiner adeptly summarizing the nature of the shady strategies used by Republicans trying to repeal the notion that American citizens should have access to health coverage. Sure, it may be fun to mock the Republicans, but...

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Another Teabagging Bimbo Flunks American History

Did I miss something here? Has it become official policy for teabagging conservatives (like Michelle Bachmann this time) to either distort or be ignorant of basic American history? I can understand if ordinary Americans don't really know their own history, but those who run for office and feel themselves qualified to make decisions for the rest of us should really get an education (based on facts, not on what fantasies Glenn Beck and other douchebags...

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Sarah Palin - Petty Woman

In these difficult times, I do have to thank teabaggers for providing an easy outlet to vent some frustration :)I don't know whether you agreed with my assessment of Sarah Palin's sleazy use of special pleading and double standards when it comes to the issue of criticizing her vs criticizing her opponents, but it seems that Jon Stewart did...The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10ctd style="padding:2px 1px 0px 5px;" colspan="2" Petty...

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Thank You!

Dear readers: While taking a break from this blog, and as I've been trying to figure out how to deal with some recent personal problems, I've received many words of support and encouragement from good friends, former students and regular readers of this blog, including many I've never met.So, I wanted to say thanks to all of you for your support. It really means a lot to me that there are people out there who care. Who needs invisible gods when there...

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Blog Hiatus

As you probably surmise, dear readers, this blog is a product of love. I firmly believe that exposing others to interesting, challenging and diverse ideas might just be the spark that can inspire someone to pursue any of these questions in more depth. And my sincere hope is that the Philosophy Monkey blog may create even the smallest difference for a better and more educated world.And while I love blogging and sharing with all of you, I've recently...

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Sarah Palin's Blood Libel

If you were Sarah Palin, and you were confronted with the fact that the one-sided, delusional, bigoted and inflammatory rhetoric of your speeches (as well as your overt political tactics) may have influenced a deranged lunatic to go on a shooting spree (that left many dead and wounded as he tried to off Arizona's first Jewish congresswoman), and you wanted to wash your hands from the affair instead of taking some responsibility for your role (after...

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The Flying Spaghetti Monster Song

Rise, Pastafarians!Let yourselves be touched by the Flying Spaguetti Monster's noodly appendage... and feel the power of his balls!Say it with me, brothers and sisters, Pasta-halleluja!And if he weren't real, would he really make random appearances all over the world?RAmen... ...

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Barry Schwarts on Aristotle and Practical Wisdom

In his famous Nicomachean Ethics, the ancient philosopher Aristotle argued that ethics is not an exact science, and that looking for mathematical precision in such a discipline is bound both to fail and to distort ethics itself.Instead of thinking of ethical principles as rules that everyone ought to follow categorically, as more modern philosophers have argued, Aristotle was deeply concerned with the role of judgment and flexibility in our moral...

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John Stuart Mill's Methods of Induction

If you're familiar with the name, then you probably know that the 19th century British philosopher John Stuart Mill is primarily famous for his work on the ethical theory of utilitarianism. What you may not know, however, is that this young and prolific genius also did some important and sophisticated work in logic and the philosophy of science trying to solve Hume's famous problem of induction.You may have heard scientists sometimes refer to 'the...

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Bill O'Reilly Proves God's Existence?

It kind of sucks when some of us spend years of rigorous disciplined training and research trying to understand the nature of reality only to be one-upped by the supernatural theo-philosophical powers of pundits like Bill O'Reilly.As part of this ongoing and silly billboard battle between Christians and atheists, Papa Bear dropped the following version of the bombshell god-of-the-gaps argument on atheists. And here I thought the argument proved the...

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Hans Rosling - The Joy of Stats

If there were a prize for the geekiest and most adorable intellectuals out there, Hans Rosling would surely be in the lead. He's the kind of guy from whom you want to learn and whose cheeks you want to pinch :)It is no surprise, therefore, that the BBC partnered up with him to produce a fascinating and amusing documentary about the history, importance and influence of statistical analysis.If you think statistics sounds boring, that's probably because...

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Neuroscience and Free Will

As a world-renowned mathematician, Professor Marcus Du Sautoy is well aware of bombshell ideas that have devastating conceptual power such as Godel's Incompleteness Theorem or Russell's Paradox. These ideas, of course, are not merely mathematical curiosities: they have powerful philosophical implications about the nature of universals, logic and the limits of thought and cognition.All his mathematico/philosophical training, however, could not prepare...

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Barack Obama is Luke Skywalker?

The holiday break seems to have renewed the already funny juices of the writers at The Daily Show, which they have now combined with their geeky juices into a hilarious montage about the recent political adventures of Barack Obama:The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10ctd style="padding:2px 1px 0px 5px;" colspan="2" Barack Obama Is Luke Skywalkerwww.thedailyshow.comDaily Show Full EpisodesPolitical Humor & Satire Blog</a>The...

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Super Monkey Collider Loses Funding

Though the longitudinal study on whether multiple stab wounds may be harmful to monkeys is not yet complete, The Onion reports that the economic crisis is forcing politicians to cut funding in other areas of curiosity-based research, such as CERN's Large Monkey Collider.At least the scientists did manage to discover cheesium before the funding was cut ...

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The Genius of Britain - Episode 3

After exploring the birth of the scientific revolution as it took place in England, and tracing the consequences of that revolution as they manifested in and helped fuel the industrial revolution, today's episode of this fascinating documentary series explores the men behind some of the greatest scientific breakthroughs of the 19th century.First up is the all-too-likable Michael Faraday, that man of humble origins who would rise to scientific fame...

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